The motivational dynamics of recently arrived Central Americans are explored. Issues facing this population are framed in the context of a psychosocial model for understanding minority status and educational functioning in a plural society. A key implication of the findings is that not all minorities share the same problems. (Author/VM)

This study examined the score level, extent of test completion, and test reliability for visually impaired, physically handicapped, and nonhandicapped groups taking the Graduate Record Examinations General Test. Results included the finding that performance of visually handicapped groups approximated that of nondisabled examinees, although…

Development of generalized job initiative skills was examined with three severely retarded adult males through discrimination training, role play, and self-monitoring interventions. Although intensive training was required to establish an initial set of generalized job initiative responses, subsequent sets of responses were rapidly learned using…

Reprint of Corey's classic satire written in the first person of a student who is discussing his overview of his educational experiences in elementary school. From a seventh grader's perspective, the article speaks sensitively and clearly to the dynamics underpinning the dichotomy between a student operating within a rigid academic structure and…

Investigated the correlates of burnout in a national sample of 234 school psychologists using a stress questionnaire, demographic information sheet, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Indicated that burnout was related to demographic, environmental, and professional activity variables. Discusses implications for school psychology and future…

Proposes that there are two types of person-environment congruence: supplementary, the match between an individual and a group of people who comprise an environment, such as a fraternal organization (the rationale behind vocational counseling decisions); and complementary, the match between an individual's talents and the corresponding needs of…

Assesses the impact of current coverage and indexing policies on MEDLINE's retrieval performance in the medical behavioral sciences literature by comparing retrievals in EXCERPTA MEDICA, PSYCHINFO, SCISEARCH, and SOCIAL SCISEARCH. Searches were made with descriptors, cited references, and natural language, and recall, precision, and novelty ratios…

Special education teachers should involve their students in developing and implementing a successful contingency management system by including them in such activities as selecting target behaviors, choosing reinforcers, writing and reviewing behavioral contracts, and evaluating the system. Guidelines are presented for eliciting student attitudes…

Classroom verbal behaviors of 33 elementary student teachers were correlated with second, third, and fourth grade pupils' evaluations of teaching performance. Results revealed that teachers who were more indirect in classroom interaction received significantly higher ratings from pupils on classroom procedures and interpersonnal skills. (JD)

A pilot study conducted to identify concerns of public services middle managers on costing and use of performance measures found the librarians interviewed had little faith in their usefulness. Implications of these findings are discussed and specific ways to increase the usefulness of such measures for library decision-making are suggested. (CDD)

Members of two unstructured small groups, participants in one and observers in the other, rated all interventions by the trainer for contribution to their learning. Participants and observers had a similar learning profile. Differences between the learning of participants and observers were found for clusters of interventions emphasizing trainer's…

Results of field testing for reliability and validity the Generalizable Mathematics Skills Student Self-Ratings (SSR), Teacher Ratings (TR), and Performance Test (PT) assessment instruments with 138 handicapped secondary students in vocational programs and their vocational teachers (N=5) found sufficient content and face validity and relatively…

The Faculty Enrichment and Assessment of Teaching (FEAT), a process-oriented method of student evaluation of instruction developed specifically for use in health education programs, was used in 410 classrooms in five colleges. Six scales measure characteristics of instructional quality: students' sense of career progress, effectiveness of…

This article addresses some of the contextual factors that influence faculty evaluation in a small, church-related liberal arts college and identifies five areas in which structural and normative constraints of the institution may affect individual faculty ratings. Provides recommendations for preparing evaluations which minimize the impact of…

Proposes that deficiencies in instruction exist in higher education. Discusses the trend toward simplified evaluation check lists that do not permit students to make constructive comments. Describes a set of information given to students at the beginning of a course to promote more student involvement. (TW)